UGA waste site probably never existed

Posted: Thursday, October 07, 1999

By Joan StroerStaff Writer

Final soil tests on a suspected drainage site for chemical waste at the University of Georgia have turned up negative for contamination, and environmental consultants now say the gravel-filled waste pit was probably never built.

''No evidence exists to confirm that the dry well was actually operated,'' engineers wrote in a Oct. 4 letter released by the university Wednesday.

Consultants testing the site near Sanford Stadium encountered ''no continuous gravel cores as would be expected in an intact dry well.''

The university was tipped by a visiting former professor to the possible waste site, thought to have been dug between the chemistry and biological sciences buildings. Brown and Caldwell Environmental Engineers, the firm hired by the school to help deal with any potential toxic waste problems, used sensors last month to scan the ground for signs of radioactive waste and harmful solvents. Nothing alarming showed up.

Five soil samples also have turned up negative for any organic metals or radioactive chemicals. Brown and Caldwell asked the state Environmental Protection Division this week to clear the site for no further action.

The site, shown in old drawings as a pit for filtering chemicals from the biological sciences building, was one of five identified last summer during an in-house survey conducted by the university.

The survey was begun after the discovery of seven barrels of buried DDT on the school's Plant Sciences Farm in Oconee County.

In July, the school announced it would spend $1 million to dig up and dispose of the soil contaminated by the DDT.

Later that month, administrators announced they would spend another $1.7 million to $2.6 million to clean up a suspected toxic waste site near the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.